3. Clear morning & but little wind—Mer. at 80–90 at Noon & 82 at N. Abt. 7 Oclock a Cloud arose wch. produced a good shower of Rain & pretty severe Thunder. Mrs. Fairfax, her Sister, daughter & widow Price Mrs. [ ] Mr. Ferdd. Fairfax & Lady, and Mr. Jno. Herbert & his two Sisters dined here & returned.
mrs. fairfax: After the death of his first wife, Elizabeth Cary Fairfax, Bryan Fairfax married Jane (Jenny) Dennison (sometimes Donaldson), who died in 1805, and who bore him a daughter, Anne, who appears here with her today. Mrs. Fairfax’s sister is probably the Miss Dennison who appears with her elsewhere in the diaries.
widow price: probably Mrs. Mary Price, widow of David Price (d. 1785). In 1797 she was renting land in Fairfax County from Nicholas Fitzhugh, and in 1799 she was involved in a suit in Fairfax County court for nonpayment of tobacco (will of David Price, Fairfax Wills, Book E–1, 62–63, Vi Microfilm; , 2:54, 63).
Ferdinando Fairfax’s “Lady,” whom he married in 1796, was Elizabeth Blair Cary Fairfax (b. 1765), daughter of Col. Wilson Miles Cary (1734–1817) of Rich Neck, Ceely’s, and Carysbrook and his wife Sarah Blair Cary.
These two sisters of John Carlyle Herbert were possibly the two oldest, Margaret and Sarah.